There has been a bit of hiatus in the blogosphere as of late, and I apologize for it. Life gets crazy sometimes, and so I have been trying to keep up with my Instagram / Facebook and Twitter Accounts as best I could through the past few weeks. That being said, I am back and have loads to share. The first on the docket is an introduction to an amazing initiative coming out of my home country, Canada. It’s fronted by the lovely Jenise Lee and is called “Clean Care“.

Clean Care started when Jenise realized that walking through the cosmetics aisle in the pharmacy and picking up an ‘organic’ or ‘all-natural’ product wasn’t as fail proof and safe as she thought. I know a lot of the natural community feels the same way – reading ingredients lists to try to understand which of the ingredients on there really are safe – only to feel lost and confused.  The whole thing can be a time-consuming and stressful experience.

Clean Care is Canada’s first a stamp of approval. In essence, it takes the guesswork out of shopping for safer beauty and personal care products.

Many companies are known to ‘greenwash’ their products, or provide superficial and misleading claims that their products are ‘natural’ or ‘organic’, while still largely using synthetic and/or harmful ingredients.  These chemicals include carcinogens, pesticides, reproductive and hormone disruptors, and are not only bad for our skin, but can also wreak havoc on the environment. Check out my list of ingredients to avoid to give you an idea of what those ingredients are.

By endorsing only products that are free from such chemicals [specifically, David Suzuki’s dirty dozen ingredients to avoid], Clean Care’s goal is to banish all things ‘dirty’, empowering consumers with the knowledge and visibility of the good and the bad among the countless personal care products that we use every day.

With all that said, I’d like to introduce you to a line I’ve had the pleasure of trying out these past few weeks – and Clean Care’s first official member – MarieNatie Natural Cosmetics.

Introducing Clean Care Member, MarieNatie Natural Cosmetics

MarieNatie is the first full-fledged member, whose alluring line of cosmetics seamlessly melds glamour with the use of safe, all-natural ingredients.  Founder Mary Yang is passionate about researching what goes into the making of her cosmetics and their impacts on health and on the environment, and makes half of the products by hand. Clean Care is in the early stages, but their list of natural members and grands is growing. You can see new additions on their site over the next little while.

MarieNatie Lip Gloss

Quickly jumping onto my Kate’s Faves is MarieNatie’s natural lip gloss. I’m a fan for a few reasons: it’s smooth (not sticky), the colour is light (great for day wear, anywhere), the ingredients are lovely — Jojoba Oil, Carnauba Wax, Candelilla Wax, Vitamine E and Vitamin E Acetate, Pomegranate Oil, Sunflower Oil, Grapefruit Seed Oil, Mica and Vanilla Essential Oil — it smells like vanilla, and the reflective hue makes lips appear larger.

You can grab one of her colours on her online shop for $18 CAD. My colour of choice at the moment is Change of Heart (pictured above). The other colours on my wish list include April in Paris (obviously), Cotton Candy, Love Struck and Pink Lady.

MarieNatie Perfect Lash Mascara

It’s no secret how picky I am about mascaras (I have multiple tubes for multiple uses – day wear, night wear, work wear… you get the picture). Needless to say, I’m always skeptical about my mascaras. After reading the ingredient list on MarieNatie’s mascara, I was pleasantly surprised:

• Aqua,
• Chamomile Hydrosol, Beeswax,
• Carnauba Wax,
• Mica, Coffee Powder, Rice Powder
• Sunflower Seed Oil
• Corn Starch
• Vitamin E Acetate
• Extracts of: Origanum Vulgare Leaf, Thymus Vulgaris, Cinnamomum Zeylanicum Bark, Rosmarinus Officinalis Flower, Hydrastis Canadensis Root, Lemon Peel and Grapefruit Seed